title: Deconstructing building blocks: preschoolers' spatial assembly performance relates to early mathematical skills.
abstract: This study focuses on three main goals: First, 3-year-olds' spatial assembly skills are probed using interlocking block constructions (N = 102). A detailed scoring scheme provides insight into early spatial processing and offers information beyond a basic accuracy score. Second, the relation of spatial assembly to early mathematical skills was evaluated. Spatial skill independently predicted a significant amount of the variability in concurrent mathematical performance. Finally, the relation between spatial assembly skill and socioeconomic status (SES), gender, and parent-reported spatial language was examined. While children's performance did not differ by gender, lower SES children were already lagging behind higher SES children in block assembly. Furthermore, lower SES parents reported using significantly fewer spatial words with their children.
authors.affiliation: University of Delaware.
authors.forename: Brian N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Verdine
authors.affiliation: University of Delaware.
authors.forename: Roberta M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Golinkoff
authors.affiliation: Temple University.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirsh-Pasek
authors.affiliation: Temple University.
authors.forename: Nora S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Newcombe
authors.affiliation: University of Delaware.
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Filipowicz
authors.affiliation: University of Delaware.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D001076:Aptitude / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D012923:Social Class; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary